Twitter: how to activate (and deactivate) the Mute function

Instead of having to unfollow someone, you can mute them without the awkwardness of them knowing you don’t want their tweets flooding your timeline. The Mute function, however, doesn’t cancel everything: replies and @mentions will continue to appear in your notifications, the user will still be able to send you private messages, and your tweets will appear in their timeline.

Below, I’ll show you how to mute a user on Twitter for Android and the web version, as well as how to unmute an account you silenced. Please note, this function is still rolling out on the web version so it won’t be available to everyone yet. Similarly, an iOS version is expected, but still not available.

Mute users in the web version of Twitter

In the desktop version of the web app, you can mute a user from the timeline on their profile.

The quickest way is to hide a user’s tweets from your timeline. To do this, click on the More button (the one with three dots) at the bottom right of the tweet, and then click Mute @username.

Hide a user from your timeline on the web version

You can also do it directly from the profile you want to hide. Go to their user page and click on the gear wheel on the right. After that, select Mute @username.

Mute users in Twitter for Android

You can mute a user from your timeline or their profile page. In your timeline, click on the person’s profile picture, and then on the button with three vertical dots in the top right of the screen. In the menu that pops up, click on Mute.

Select the tweet, press the three dots and then Mute

On the next screen, there’ll be an explanation of what the Mute function does. To accept and mute the person, click on Yes, I’m sure.

To mute from their profile, press the gear wheel on the left. In the pop up that opens, select the fourth option, Mute @username.

Go to their profile, press the gear, and then Mute

How to reactivate an account’s tweets

Don’t worry, muting or removing an account isn’t forever. To reverse the mute, go to their profile page. If you muted them, you’ll see the red speaker with a line through it, just like in the image. Click on the speaker to unmute the user.

Unmuting an account on the web version (left) and the Android version (right)

In the version for smartphones, you’ll be asked if you want to unmute the selected user.

Click Unmute to make the user’s tweets visible on your timeline again. Now, you’ll be able to see their messages on your timeline.

With the introduction of this new feature, Twitter hopes to fix the overwhelming influx of messages that invade many users’ timelines, avoiding the need for the fateful Unfollow button.

However, many people may criticize this move because Twitter, unlike Facebook, is not based on friendships, meaning that you’re free to follow whoever we want, with no obligations.

According to Phil Pearlman, an editor at Yahoo! Finance, this new feature could create confusion on the social network. As a result, the follower becomes much less important given that virtually anyone could start reading your tweets.

From the redesign of the profile and the mute feature, it seems that Twitter is getting closer and closer to Facebook.

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